278 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



so many romances. At best, however, it was a 

 foolish beast. Dr Dove, it may be unnecessary 

 to remind the reader, is the hero of Southey's 

 " Doctor." The extent to which some of the 

 famous stories of romance came in course of 

 time to be woven into other stories is rather 

 remarkable. 



Thus we find Dr Dove described in three 

 different stories as three distinct and different 

 individuals not one of whom is recognisable as 

 the same person and the original, while the horse, 

 Nobbs, is spoken of in one story as a bay, in 

 another as a brown, in a third as a black. 



Is it possible that the authors of those stories 

 can have read the original Southey? And if 

 history of such small importance, comparatively, 

 is thus corrupted, can one place implicit belief in 

 many of the serious historical narratives ? Rather 

 one is tempted to believe the assertion of Pitt, 

 "the boy Prime Minister," when he declared in 

 all seriousness that "nothing is so uncertain as 

 positive truth." 



Most historians make mention of the charger 

 that carried Wellington so well at Waterloo ; yet 

 the only statement with the impress of truth in 

 this connection is that the horse died in 1835, 

 aged twenty-seven. It was Wellington's favourite 



